The door took a while to open, and the old painter appeared holding a brush, with paint splattered on his face. He looked at me with a somewhat impatient expression, scanning me from head to toe, but then his face softened, and he smiled. “It’s you. You’ve gotten darker, looks like you’ve had a rough time this month. Still want to learn painting?”
I nodded firmly, holding up the bag of mineral stones and handing it to him. “I’ve gathered them all, except for the carnelian. Can this count as passing the test?”
He took the cloth bag, peered inside, then held my hand, examining the calluses formed on my palm. His eyes softened with approval. “You truly have perseverance and can endure hardship. Carnelian is rare here, so it’s understandable you couldn’t find it. As long as you brought flamestone to substitute, I’ll consider you to have passed.”
After saying that, he handed me a stone.
The stone was entirely white, which seemed far from its name. However, he brought over a candle, and when the flame touched the stone, it shimmered brilliantly, revealing a sparkling purple glow.
“It’s so beautiful,” I couldn’t help but praise. “Where can I find this stone?”
“At the heart of the mountain, where the ground is hot,” He replied. “A person who learns to paint must have a heart as passionate as a flametone. I’ll be heading south for an artistic tour in spring, three months from now. When you have gathered the flamestone, I’ll take you to paint the sea. Would you like to go?”
I was filled with excitement, my heart racing. “To the seaside? Really!”
The old painter nodded. On my way home, I was filled with joy, eagerly hoping to tell Nalin the news. If he could come with me to see the sea, that would be even better.
Flamestone, can be found at the heart of the mountain where the ground is hot, where can one find such a thing?
How about asking Master Tai tomorrow? I thought to myself as I walked toward the post station, when suddenly a commotion started growing louder. The pedestrians at the night market quickly moved aside, and when I saw the luxurious covered carriage drawn by four white horses approaching at the end of the street, I knew a noble person was arriving. I hurriedly stepped into a nearby shop to avoid being in the way.
Taking advantage of my small size, I squeezed to the outer edge of the crowd, curiously staring at the approaching carriage along with the other people. We all wondered who the visitor might be. Suddenly, I heard a child’s startled cry from across the street: “Xiao Hei, don’t run! Come back!”
In the next moment, a dark shadow darted into the street, with a small child chasing after it. Seeing that the carriage was drawing closer, I acted without thinking. I rushed out and shoved the child aside, but I pushed too hard and ended up tumbling to the ground, landing in a full sprawl. The sound of the horses’ hooves grew louder, and it seemed like the carriage was about to run over me. I didn’t have time to get up, so I curled into a ball, shielding my head and face.
“Stop!” At that moment, a soft yet commanding voice rang out.
This cool and pleasant voice felt oddly familiar. I froze, lowered my hand, and looked up; there, a slender, pale hand was lifting the carriage curtain, and a figure leaned out.
The person’s face was covered with a golden veil, revealing only a pair of indifferent and pure blue eyes.
My heart jolted, and I heard a wave of exclamations coming from all around me.
“It’s the Young Saint Lord, the Ninth Prince!”
“Everyone said that the Young Saint Lord is the incarnation of a god. Sure enough, he is like a god…”
“That’s right. The Young Saint Lord is not only beautiful but also kind. In the past few years, every time we fought with Modaluo, he went to the battlefield in person to pray for the soldiers and gave them medicine. The rainfall in the barren saline-alkali land in the south and west was also prayed for by the Young Saint Lord. The Young Saint Lord is indeed the reincarnation of the Heavenly Venerable Tunshe, the incarnation of the Heavenly Venerable…”
“I heard that all the local patients have recovered and joined the army to go to the battlefield!”
“It’s true. My husband went to the sect once, and all his sores healed after he came back. He even received a reward after joining the army. It was all thanks to the Young Saint Lord!”
“They say that elders in high positions within the sect can receive the Young Saint Lord’s blood from the Saintess. Drinking it not only heals grave illnesses but may also grant immortality and ascension to the heavens…”
“That sounds so mystical. Who did you hear that from?”
I turned to look in the direction of the voice, curious, and saw that the person speaking was a middle-aged man with a mysterious expression on his face. “My son has joined the sect and become a priest, bringing honor to our family!”
“Seeing the Young Saint Lord, why aren’t you kneeling?” A patrolling soldier scolded sharply, and immediately, everyone around me knelt down in unison. I sat frozen in the middle of the city road, as if my soul had left my body, staring at him as he stepped off the carriage in his white robes. Amidst the thousands of gazes, he walked right up to me. When I saw him lean down, I thought he was going to help me up in front of everyone. But instead, he picked up the little black cat that had been trembling beside me and handed it to the child behind me, who was staring at him just as blankly as I was.
“Be careful in the future, don’t run around on the city road.”
He was clearly speaking to the child, but for some reason, I felt as though he was talking to me.
“When we go, go back. We will enshrine this cat. The cat that the Young Saint Lord has held is a holy cat!” I turned my head to see a family of three kneeling in front of him.
“Our family is filled with devout followers. Young Saint Lord, bless-bless us!”
I looked up and saw him frown slightly, a fleeting, unclear expression crossing his eyes. Yet, he still raised his hand and gently touched the child’s forehead. Annoyed by me standing in the way, the woman holding the child pushed me aside, moving me to the back.
“Don’t block the Young Saint Lord from bestowing blessings! Can’t you see he’s granting favor to the followers?!”
So what if you are a follower? I’ve spent day and night with your Young Saint Lord, and I’m even wearing the gift he gave me on my hand!
I felt a surge of injustice and became stubborn. With determination, I pushed my way to the front and crawled on my knees until I was before Nalin. “Young Saint Lord, it was I who saved this child, and I am also a follower. I ask the Young Saint Lord to bless me as well.”
He lowered his lashes and silently gazed down at me, not saying a word. His brow furrowed even deeper.
I held my breath, my heart racing as if it were about to leap out of my throat. I waited, hoping—no, yearning—for him to do something in front of all these eyes, to prove that we were friends, that we were close.
He is not yours. He is mine, my moon, my deity, all mine.
I was filled with anticipation, but instead, I saw Nalin lower his gaze, turn, and get back into the carriage.
“To the one who saved the child, a reward of one hundred silver coins.”
The carriage curtain dropped, and the carriage rushed past me like the wind, leaving only the heavy bag of silver coins in my hand.
“There are so many followers of the Young Saint Lord. Do you think anyone can receive his blessings? This is about fate! Tsk, this kid, what more does he want after receiving the silver coins? Why is he crying?”
“Exactly! He probably rushed out on purpose just to scam people, right?”
“You guys are the ones trying to scam people!” I shouted, throwing the bag of silver coins at the people around me who were mocking me. The coins scattered across the ground, immediately sparking a frenzy of people scrambling to grab them.
I squeezed my way out of the crowd and watched the carriage gradually disappear, entering the long road leading to the inner city. I wiped my face. That’s right. There was a vast gap between us, how could I dare to wish for him to be my moon, my deity, for just myself? It was never meant to be. Not to mention, we were both men, an insignificant illegitimate son and a noble heir. There was never any possibility of an outcome between us.
I walked towards the post station in a daze, and at this moment, I heard someone calling from behind: “Mi Jia!”
Is it Nalin?
I was startled and turned around, only to see a thin young man waving and smiling at me from the gradually dispersing crowd on the brightly lit street. He looked back, as if he was hiding from something, and walked through the crowd in a few steps, ran to me, grabbed my hand, and ran away. Before I could react, he pulled me into a dimly lit alley. He leaned out and looked outside. I couldn’t help laughing at his appearance. A dignified prince acted like a thief: “Are you hiding from… your guard?”
“Hey, every time I go out, he follows me everywhere. It’s so annoying.” He sighed and coughed twice. “I come out just to get some fresh air. The palace is so suffocating.”
I asked curiously, “Don’t you have any friends in the palace? Don’t you have brothers and sisters in the royal family?”
“You don’t understand. We can’t be friends with royal children.” The Tenth Prince drooped his eyelids, looking a little lonely. “Not to mention a sick guy like me…” He didn’t finish his sentence before he started coughing violently into his fist, his cheeks flushed unnaturally.
I was startled and patted his back hurriedly. No wonder the guard followed him closely. How could he wander around alone in his current health?
“Why don’t you go back? I’ll go find him for you.”
“No-no.” He forced himself to hold back his cough, grabbed my hand, shook his head, and looked at me with pleading eyes. “I’m not in any trouble, I’ll be fine in a while. I won’t die, don’t worry.”
This look reminded me of a stray cat with a crippled leg that I had rescued before. When I first met it, it had the same look in its eyes, so fragile, yet it refused to bow to fate. My heart softened, and I had no choice but to let him lie on my shoulder, patting his back awkwardly until his coughing and wheezing subsided. I just breathed a sigh of relief, but I felt my shoulder sink, and his whole body pressed against me and slid down softly.
